Penn’s Amnesty Policy

In August of 2015, the Penn Harris Madison board of school trustees approved a new section of the Penn High School code of conduct. 

The new amnesty policy is apart of the school’s code of conduct. The first part of the policy states that a student who believes they have a problem with alcohol or substance abuse can seek assistance by contacting a staff member, even just going into a teachers class and saying “I have a problem.” They can do so without the fear of any kind of consequence.

The second part is that if you are in a situation at a large gathering or a friends house, where a friend or student needs medical attention due to alcohol or substance abuse, this policy allows you to contact the police or emergency services without those repercussions.

There are conditional amnesty, it is the same as the appeal process through the code of conduct. if they are a first time offender, the school allows them to seek an assessment, the same goes for the amnesty policy. When a student comes forward saying the need help, they must take the next step and seek out help from a doctor or specialist to seek amnesty. The school is not interested in the results, they just get verification that the assessment was taken.

Penn athletic director Aaron Leniski believes that other schools will follow Penn with the amnesty policy. He says that around Michiana, Penn is the first school to have a policy like this. Mr Leniski also states that clubs, sports, groups are privileges not rights, and those cant be taken away for a period of time to make the student realize their mistake.

The new code of conduct can be found here.